Alex Pacheco of “600 Million” says he was gunner on a boat with no guns

Produces no substance for claim to be developing “spay/neuter cookies”

POMPANO BEACH, Florida––Alex Pacheco and his organization “600 Million Stray Dogs Need You” are apparently feeling the heat from recent exposés of aggressive fundraising tactics on purported behalf of research to develop a “spay/neuter cookie” which has no verifiable substance.

Pacheco on April 26, 2017 e-mailed to Colorado spay/neuter veterinarian Jeff Young, a former backer whom Pacheco has claimed is the “600 Million” science advisor, a statement that Pacheco said was “to send to those giving you [Young] heat.”

Jeff Young, DVM

Did “Dr. Neuter” cut him off?

Young has recently disassociated himself from Pacheco and “600 Million” in statements made directly to ANIMALS 24-7 and Showing Animals Respect & Kindness (SHARK).

Hid behind 1979 stint with Sea Shepherds

Instead of directly responding to any of the matters of substance in his statement, subtitled “To My Foes and Friends, an Open Letter from Alex Pacheco,” Pacheco sidestepped by recounting how he was a crew member as part of “the Sea Shepherd’s first whale protection campaign,” in 1979.

Pacheco neglected to mention that he was no longer aboard the original Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vessel, named the Sea Shepherd, when on July 16, 1979 it rammed the Portuguese pirate whaling ship Sierra. Sea Shepherd Conservation Society founder Paul Watson described the circumstances under which Pacheco and 13 other crew members left the Sea Shepherd in the first two pages of his 1994 autobiography Ocean Warrior: My Battle to End the Illegal Slaughter on the High Seas

“Once at sea,” Pacheco claimed, “each day we’d stop to let the engines cool and pull out the guns and take firing practice in anticipation of the ramming.”

What guns?

What guns? The Sea Shepherd was seized by the Portuguese Navy soon after the ramming. No firearms were found aboard. None of the three people who actually were aboard––Watson, Peter Woof, and Jerry Doran––have ever published any account or given any interview mentioning that guns were aboard the Sea Shepherd at any time.

Indeed, the first reports published by international media after the ramming explicitly mentioned that the Sea Shepherd crew had no weapons other than their ship itself.

And Watson, on pages 210-211 of Ocean Warrior, recounts how guns were never even taken aboard Sea Shepherd vessels until after 1991––14 years after the mission against the Sierra.

Reiterated Watson on February 24, 2010, after Sea Shepherd Conservation Society donor Ady Gil remarked that whale poachers deserve to be shot, “The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never used firearms and has no intention of using firearms against illegal whalers.”

(Merritt Clifton collage)

Pacheco “Open Letter” made no mention of PETA

Pacheco, who was a cofounder of PETA in 1981, and remained associated with PETA until 1998, oddly enough made no mention of PETA in his “Open Letter,” while summarizing some of his activities done under PETA auspices. Pacheco mentioned having been “arrested over 60 times,” but NewsLibrary.com appears to include no coverage of any arrests for animal advocacy activity since 1992.

While still with PETA, Pacheco was also associated from 1988 to 1996 with the New England Anti-Vivisection Society, but was ousted by legal action after claiming to have been elected president by a membership vote in which ballots believed to have favored an opponent mysteriously disappeared.

Pacheco parted company with PETA soon after litigation resulting from the NEAVS leadership dispute was settled.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Paraphrased ANIMALS 24-7 coverage

Going on to quote Watson at length, Pacheco segued into a discussion of animal contraceptive methods appearing to have been closely paraphrased from ANIMALS 24-7 coverage. None of those methods were described in any of the 29 “600 Million” direct mail appeals that ANIMALS 24-7 reviewed in SHARK circles Alex Pacheco & “600 Million Stray Dogs Need You.”

One of those methods, the use of testicular injectable products such as zinc arginine and/or calcium chloride, works by causing adhesions that block the sperm ducts in male animals, and could not be administered in any ingestible form, let alone as a “spay/neuter cookie.”

(Beth Clifton collage)

Contraceptive maker disassociated itself from Pacheco

Another of those methods, using vinylcyclohexene dioxide, has been developed by an Arizona company called SenesTech, but SenesTech disassociated itself from Pacheco in April 2011, advising Joyce Briggs, president of the Alliance for Contraception of Cats & Dogs, that “neither ‘600 Million’ nor Mr. Pacheco have any claim, right, title, license or interest in our ChemSpay product or any other [SenesTech] product.”

Pacheco went on to claim that “For starters, we have identified over 100 formulas, compounds, and ingredients ranging from zinc to calcium chloride to vinylcyclohexene dioxide, all the way to the gentle papaya seed, that are effective when used for birth control in humans and/or animals…Birth control dog food has existed for over 30 years…It was produced by the billion dollar Carnation Corporation…”

(Beth Clifton collage)

Meat tenderizer

This information, never before mentioned in anything by Pacheco, has previously appeared in several articles by ANIMALS 24-7 editor Merritt Clifton, including “Alternatives to sterilization surgery still delayed,” published in June 2002, and “Papaya product and calcium chloride emerge as rivals to zinc sterilants,” published in September 2010.

The papaya product, developed by three Brazilian researchers in 1999, originated as a method of chemically castrating pigs before slaughter, essentially by injecting a meat tenderizer into their testicles to prevent “boar taint” from contaminating pork products. It does not appear to have advanced beyond the theoretical state as a dog and cat contraceptive.

Still no documentation

Pacheco continued to claim, without offering any documentation, “Studies also show that multiple doses of a formula that we are working with (the name of which we are not disclosing at this time) cause sterilization and when used as intended it is safe, it will not sterilize humans, and it will not harm the environment.”

Pacheco concluded by mentioning purported “teams in the U.S., Mexico, India,” of whom there is no trace of existence in the “600 Million” filings of IRS Form 990, including the statements of foreign transactions––except possibly an unidentified recipient of $40,000 in “Central America,” in 2011.

Merritt & Beth Clifton

Pacheco has yet to answer inquiries from SHARK as to who exactly this lone individual was, what this person did with the money, and “If you were doing actual clinical trials in Central America, why did you stop and what happened to any/all the data collected?”

Disappointing when there is no transparency or accountability, especially when it involves any organization that is supposed to be helping animals. If the allegations are true, it’s comparable to any other industry that exploits animals for profit, only maybe worse because it betrays the very beings that the organization claims to be fighting for.

I am sorry if you consider SHARK to be among your “foes” because we ask some important questions. We are not you foes. We are, however, very concerned about some in the movement who are misusing money donated by caring people for the good of animals.

Although this is an issue rarely spoken of publicly within the movement, we all know it has long been a problem, and the problem is getting worse. It is an issue for many nonprofits, including organizations that have nothing to do with animals.

SHARK is concerned about the credibility of the animal protection movement and wants to be sure that the money intended for the animals actually is in fact benefiting the animals. A number of individuals and organizations, including some of your former supporters, have raised issues. The questions raised are valid, and has given us cause for concern. Unfortunately, your recent behavior and lack of transparency has done nothing to alleviate those concerns.

We would very much appreciate your cooperation with regard to our requests for documentation, and answers to our questions.

We love the stated goal of 600 Million. Please prove to us that you are sincerely pursuing it.

People like Alex Pacheco pray on the passion and compassion of people who are moved to halt suffering. If he were not talking about something that people are passionate about, if it was something people could dispassionately stand back from, they would see the foolishness of his nonsense; his claims are as silly as the pictures of Alex himself biting a big dog biscuit. It is unfathomable that he attracts educated people to his platform, but some people so badly want to “help” that they forego the obvious and donate to a fantasy.
Alex Pacheco diverts badly needed funds from the core mission of high quality research and takes the discussion of non-surgical solutions off course. There are no dog-biscuit-shaped contraceptive products for dogs and Pacheco is not on the path to creating one.
Four years ago Pacheco claimed to represent the developer of Chem-Spay, a birth control product for rodents. He was denounced and then tried to troll others in order to lay claim to their hard work. In late 2015 he put out a ZipRecruiter ad for scientists who had their own laboratory space. Now, less than 18 months later, 600 Million claims to be on the verge of the highest science! Even if he had had something, his claims are way ahead of a plausible timeline.
Hopefully Pacheco’s board members and large-scale donors will do some soul-searching and rethink their buy-in to his fantasies. In animal welfare–as in anything else–if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

The link here actually pertains almost entirely to the Sea Shepherd vessel Edward Abbey, acquired in 1990, and to the events of 1991 and afterward. Nothing in it supports Alex Pacheco’s claims pertaining to the 1979 Sea Shepherd campaign against the pirate whaler Sierra.

True … the link only pertains to Watson’s claims that “The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has never used firearms …. ” (a claim that he has made multiple times) and “guns were never even taken aboard Sea Shepherd vessels until after 1991 …”
Trimingham’s comments refer to 1990 ……

I was there when Senestech fired Alex Pacheco – he had the rights to raise money to allow them to find a solution for dogs, as they have been successful after years and years of research for rats and had been using it in many countries to give to the farmers to protect their rice fields. At that time NYC Port Authority was testing their product. Since then they have advanced and the rat sterilization product is effective and used in many countries. It would cost enormous amounts of $ to change/tweak the product and years of research to adapt it to a dog and yes then the whole law constraints and all the legal and medical compliance rules and regulations… very expensive. Well Alex had it almost funded with the Best Friends Animal Society in Dec 2010. I was there at the table, I sat in on the negotiations and with the scientists, as I was when Alex paid $1 to have the right to raise enough money for Senestech to start working on and plan the testing, field trials, dogs to house to monitor the effects etc…..Well, Alex was stupid enough to let some bimbo PR person out of Newport Beach CA send out a press release with false claims and information that was strictly forbidden to be released by Senestech. By the time the round trip from Utah at the Best Friends Animal Society then back to LA, California was completed, it wasn’t more than 10 hours and an email was received that Senestech had severed ties. (The Press release went out during the couple day visit to Utah) DONE, OVER, NO RECIPE FOR SUCCESS…. it makes me sick that I still receive emails asking for donations while Alex is living off the profits…he has never worked since I have met him in 2009, he plays the pauper while collecting innocent good intended people’s money for a worthy cause however he does not have the answer, the recipe for the potential “sterilization biscuit” that would need to be changed from working on rats to dogs is locked in a vault and Alex never had possession of it and never will. I spoke to the scientists about a year ago and they were doing well and moving forward on their own in various directions. Please someone stop Alex Pacheco from continuing to collect money to support his own lifestyle. (By the way he scammed me too – claimed he never had a penny even when he drove my car to a “600 Seminar” and got a flat tire- Quote – “He wished he could have helped me pay for the run flat tire but just didn’t have the money” BS. He had plenty, and continues to take from anyone donating.